Dr. Vans was more of a psychotherapist, focused on mages, a Doctor of Psychology and had general medical training, specific to mages, so he wouldn’t have the necessary knowledge to treat himself.
He cleared his throat. “Absolutely. I’ll see to that.”
“Greater mages than yourself have made cancer from mice.” Marquis offered a half smile.
“I’ll see to this immediately, then. While I’m out today, take Mads out. Have him home by four.” Dr. Vans stood and tucked his wand away before opening his office door. “It was very informative seeing you. Thank you.”
Marquis nodded sagely and left, pondering where to take his mate.
“Mads!” Marquis jumped as he spotted the omega in the hallway, dark eyes wide and curious.
“I felt you around and they allow me to wander some of a morning. You’re nervous.” Mads pushed up on his tiptoes to tidy Marquis’s collar and tie with gentle and familiar motions. He really had taken to domesticity well. A feral omega, tamed in his hands. That said, he was a far sight daintier and more curtailed than he had been all those years ago. In a way, Marquis missed the impropriety, the brashness and vulgar language. He missedthe Mads that snuck through his window looking for a crumb of affection wherever he could get it.
“I was meeting with Dr. Vans.” Marquis fidgeted with his collar a bit, prompting Mads to huff and fix it again.
“And? Asking him to spill all my secrets, tell you if I’mall there.” Mads said it with a playful tone, but Marquis could sense the bitterness in it.
“In a way. I was actually making sure that it would be safe to take you on a date. If you’re interested.” Marquis cleared his throat and avoided Mads’s gaze.
“Really? I can—we can go outside? Can we go see a picture show? Please?” Mads caught Marquis’s gaze, glancing back to catch his pleading look.
“I don’t think they’re called picture shows anymore.”
“I tried to learn how to work the television in my room, but it was the worst magic I’ve ever seen and everything had people having boring sex.” Mads sighed. “Back in the day,wehadrealsex… Not this…” He flipped his hand a few times, thinking.
“Not what?” Marquis raised a brow, feeling his face twitch, a grin trying its best to escape his flat façade.
“Missionary humping. Even the male pairings!” Mads never referred to two men as homosexual, as the term didn’t apply to alpha-omega pairs. He never viewed himself as gay or heterosexual. They were mages. Mages were attracted to other mages.
Except he was no longer technically a mage by category. He was a familiar—one who hadn’t found his form.
“I’m afraid the movie theaters are no better. I could take you out to get a good meal, or maybe I could persuade you to travel the riverbed nearby with me to find you some wandwood since you don’t have a wand anymore.” Marquis cleared his throat.
“Wandwood? What wou—Baron isn’t ali—” Mads stared Marquis down as realization hit him. “You want to makemywand?”
His original wand had been made by hand from a coven member with the skill for it. When Marquis proposed, he’d had Mads select one from Marquis’s father’s collection.
Marquis nodded as Mads took a few steadying breaths. “But like…I don’t need a wand unless I have a mage that fuels me and lets me focus them.”
“I’m proposing we learn to love one another again. If that is permissible.” Marquis cleared his throat nervously. He’d never been that insecure, even as a young man courting.
“You never had to ask, Marquis. I’ve been yours since the day I snuck in your window. Regardless of what happened, I wanted nothing more than to come back to you.” Mads reached out to take Marquis’s cheeks in his hands. “I remember your face. I dreamed about you. There were days I was in a deep haze and thought I was with you. I didn’t know if it was a coping mechanism or something they did to me.”
Marquis had touched on the topic, danced around it, really. “I feel like… I’m uncertain if Doris manipulated me. I know she did to an extent, but if there was magic involved? I’m unsure.”
“Fresh starts. Let’s go down by the river and find ourselves a stick!” Mads grabbed onto Marquis’s arm and swept away.
It feltwrong, taking Mads out of the facility. He squinted at the sky, almost afraid of the sun as they made their way to his car. The older town car was a little over twenty years old, but some good preservation charms went a long way in keeping a suitable vehicle to standard. Mads went to get into the back seat, but Marquis put him in the front, opening the door for him in a sweep. The gesture seemed to trip him up. But, with minimal coaxing, he slid in and fumbled with the seat belt as easily as if he’d done it a thousand times before. Little things like that madeMarquis wonder how much he really remembered, how much he’d blocked out, and how much heliedabout.
As if he noticed Marquis staring, Mads shrank in his seat. “I know. I know time has passed. I know it seems odd, but it’s like everything was shooting by like a star, my mind included. Moments of lucidity flash in and out, you know? I think it’s whenever the spells ran thin.”
“Why didn’t Baron use wish to maintain it?” Marquis didn’t think before he spoke and cursed himself as he did so.
Mads’s face hardened. “Because every flake of it he had went up his nose.”
Marquis shook his head. “Remember when we went to that formal dinner a few months after we were married and you put your elbows on the table and Father told you to go eat with the servants?”
“Yeah. I left my plate full and walked out. Said the servants probably had better food. And they did. Your father thinks sugar is spicy. How’s the old fuck doing?”
